Architecture Directory

BLOK K-Verdana Housing in Funenpark Amsterdam by NL Architects

NL Architects have completed the construction of 10 dwellings with ground-level access, called Blok K/Verdana Housing. Blok K is part of a masterplan by Architekten Cie for 500 dwellings in the area called Het Funen in Amsterdam. The dwellings are organized according to the so-called back-to-back principle. By positioning the access in the middle of the block, all ‘service’ elements like stairwells, technical facilities and the obligatory storage spaces are located in the dark zone: the facade opens up to the light and the surrounding park. By slight rotation, the alley/canyon is oriented at two open spaces between the blocks. Point to departur, where all dwellings are set in the same volume, given ‘envelope’ divided by 10=630m3. As a consequence of rotating the alley of the houses are at the same time stretched and compressed, either in height or in length, but they maintain the original volume. Some features of the typology remain, but all houses are individual and unique, reaching from two to four stories, from 140 m2 to 180 m2. The block as a whole maintains the original volume; the average height remains unchanged.